NYC subways get tap-to-ride turnstiles starting late 2018

EE's NFC payment app now works on London buses

Last week, EE said its Cash on Tap NFC wallet app would soon work with Tube barriers when they start accepting contactless payments next month. Today, the carrier's announced you don't have to wait to try travelling the NFC way, as Cash on Tap can now be used to pay fares on London buses. The capital's bus network has taking contactless payments from sources other than Oyster cards since December 2012, but EE's claiming it's the first to implement NFC support. Daily fare caps for multiple bus journeys work with any contactless payment method already, just like if you were using an Oyster card, but today Transport for London has introduced a new weekly fare cap for bus travel paid this way. A weekly fare cap will also be introduced on the Tube when contactless payments go live in September.

Unfortunately, hopping on the bus with nothing but your phone in hand is only something a minority of people can enjoy -- you have to be an EE customer and posses one of the few phones that Cash on Tap is currently compatible with. Contactless payments on the London transport network has been a hot topic of late, though, so we probably won't be waiting long before someone comes up with a more inclusive solution that gives all NFC-enabled handsets that same functionality.